Nearly 10 months after the Centre declared it would make the National Textile Corporation (NTC)-run Indu Mills land at Prabhadevi available for a memorial of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar,the state government has now approached it for expediting the handover.

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Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has written to Union textiles ministry demanding that the land be handed over to the state government on lease as soon as possible.

On December 5 last year,the then Union Textiles Minister Anand Sharma had announced that the 12.5-acre NTC land would be made available for the memorial and claimed that the modalities of the handover were being worked out.

While the state government wants the plot to be leased at nominal rates,the NTC has sought a higher compensation,arguing that the prime plot was worth over Rs 1,400 crore. It has sought permission for transfer of development rights (TDR) of the plot on other mills it owns in the island city.

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The state government,on the other hand,has been arguing that the plot,situated in coastal regulatory zone-I,is currently a no-development zone.

The state government,in its latest communication,has,however,indicated it was willing to exercise the TDR option on the condition that the the Union environment ministry first approves a proposal for modifying the reservation of the plot from industrial to residential.

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A senior official said the TDR could be generated on the plot only after this modification is approved.

The state government will further have to amend norms to allow the TDR to be used on plots in the island city. As per the existing development control regulations applicable in Mumbai,the TDR can only be allowed in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Sources close to the chief minister said he was keen that handover issue was sorted out in time before December 6,which marks Dr Ambedkars death anniversary.